Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was an unexpected delight - a genuinely fun and exciting film, so much better than anyone would have expected from an adaptation of a theme park ride. It also unleashed a truly memorable cinematic character in Captain Jack Sparrow. The sequels suffered from trying to make it a formula, too much plotting, a surfeit of Orlando and Keira and the incomprehensibility of Keith Richards.

In those last two respects, On Stranger Tides has a headstart - no Bloom or Knightley and Richards is amazingly intelligible in his brief cameo (and has one of the best lines of the movies - "Does this face look like its been to the fountain of youth"). In fact, the film starts promisingly enough with the nonsensical court scene and Sparrow's escape from king's custody. Unfortunately, from then on its downhill most of the way, with a brief upswing for the mermaid attack (which is the best action sequence in the whole film). Yes, the production values are still great and yes, the film still looks gorgeous, but its not enough.

On Stranger Tides, despite a new director, falls too closely into the short-comings of Dead Man's chest and At World's End. There's too much plot without any real reason - three different groups all seeking the fountain of youth, only one person actually seems to really want to find it, one group are completely sidelined, we have zombie sailors, giant flamethrowers and real ships in bottles for no apparent reason other than somebody thought it was a good idea. There are also still too many characters. Of the new characters, only Penelope Cruz's Angelica has any real presence (and more chemistry with Depp than Angelina Jolie in The Tourist). Ian McShane's Blackbeard is the real disappointment - the pirate all other pirates fear lacks depth, conviction or menace, coming out much worse than Bill Nighy's Davy Jones in the villain stakes. The romance between missionary (Sam Clafin) and mermaid (Astrid Berges-Frisbey, yes, really) is so starved of room and bland that you might find yourself getting nostalgic for Orlando and Keira. Even Geoffrey Rush' Barbossa seems to be running on empty.

Director Rob Marshall (Oscar nominated for Chicago) strangely seems afraid to try anything original, so we get a fight reminiscent of the forge in the first movie, and a climax in cave with numerous reverses which seems to lifted straight from the original. Which wouldn't have been such a crime, if only it had been carried out with some energy and conviction, but instead it feels rushed and half-hearted lacking the twisting sense of the first film. Whisper it quietly, but on of the main problems here is with Jack Sparrow himself. In the first film, he was a breathe of fresh air who had a rock'n'roll sense of unpredictability. Now on his fourth outing, we know him too well, there are no surprises left, we know exactly what he's going to do in any situation. Depp seems to sense this and appears less invested in the character than ever before. In fact, with this on the back of The Tourist there is a worrying possibility that Depp is starting down the De Niro route of lazy performances to pick up a paycheque (although to be fair, Depp has yet to make anything equivalent to Little Fockers).

Overall - 5.5/10 Its still a well-produced and mildly entertaining film rather than a bad one, but it feels half-hearted and over-familiar.